Commercial target screen resolution

[Peter Oliphant]

In today's market, what's a good screen resolution that I can pretty much
count on as being the minimum?

This is kind of a 'fuzzy' question in that I'm interested in the biggest
screen resolution that I can be pretty sure most people who buy a computer
today (within the last year or two) will have a graphic card that supports
it.

For example, is 1024 x 768 x 32bits pretty much supported on most PC
computers today?

Just so you know, I'm asking becuase I'm developing a product in VC++ 2008
and want to know what I should target as a minimum screen resolution
requirement (i.e., this is relevant to this forum)...

Thanks!

[==Peter==]

 

[Peter Oliphant]

To be clear, if a computer can't actual display resolution 1024 x 768 x 32
but has a higher resolution that it does support (e.g., 1280 x 800 x 32)
that still means in my context that it supports my need. I want a minimum
working area resoution I can pretty much count on the end-user's computer
supporting, not necessarily a common specific resolution supported...

I remember when this number for Windows machines was 320x200x16....gad!

 

[Carl Daniel [VC++ MVP]]

In today's market, what's a good screen resolution that I can pretty
much count on as being the minimum?

This is kind of a 'fuzzy' question in that I'm interested in the
biggest screen resolution that I can be pretty sure most people who
buy a computer today (within the last year or two) will have a
graphic card that supports it.

For example, is 1024 x 768 x 32bits pretty much supported on most PC
computers today?

Just so you know, I'm asking becuase I'm developing a product in VC++
2008 and want to know what I should target as a minimum screen
resolution requirement (i.e., this is relevant to this forum)...

We assume 1280x1024 for the products I've worked on. Personally, I can't
see why anyone would use less than 1600x1200 ;-) (Even 1600x1200 looks tiny
in a remote desktop window on my 2560x1600 main monitor).

I don't know if it's still the case, but it used to be that outside the US
you had to assume a much lower resolution. I'd hope that disparity has
mostly gone away, but I haven't had any exposure to markets outside the US
in a very long time.

-cd

 

[Peter Oliphant]

Thanx, Carl!

We assume 1280x1024 for the products I've worked on. Personally, I can't
see why anyone would use less than 1600x1200 ;-) (Even 1600x1200 looks
tiny in a remote desktop window on my 2560x1600 main monitor).

I don't know if it's still the case, but it used to be that outside the US
you had to assume a much lower resolution. I'd hope that disparity has
mostly gone away, but I haven't had any exposure to markets outside the US
in a very long time.

-cd

 

[Cholo Lennon]

I don't know if it's still the case, but it used to be that outside the US

you had to assume a much lower resolution. I'd hope that disparity has
mostly gone away, but I haven't had any exposure to markets outside the US
in a very long time.

You're right. In Argentina for example the most common resolution is
1024x768 with 17" monitors (still there are a lot of 15" monitors). BTW,
don't forget laptop users. Laptops have lower resolution than desktop PCs
(e.g. my new laptop, 15" widescreen, has a resolution of 1200x800).

Regards

 

[Peter Oliphant]

Really good info, Cholo! Thanx! And good point about laptops. I'm actually
developing my application on a laptop so I can test the lower resolution
cases. I fgiure if it works on a laptop it should work almost anywhere!

[==Peter==]

 

[Peter Oliphant]

(Even 1600x1200 looks tiny in a remote desktop window on my 2560x1600 main

monitor).

You have a 2560 x 1600 monitor? Oh my gawd could I be any more jealous...
: )

[==Peter==]

 

[Carl Daniel [VC++ MVP]]

You have a 2560 x 1600 monitor? Oh my gawd could I be any more
jealous...

Yeah, it's nice. They're coming down in price, too. The 30" monitor from
Dell is a nice monitor, and not too ridiculously priced (I have an Apple
30" - but it's connected to a PC, not a Mac). You do need a high end video
card for that resolution as well, but those are coming down in price too.

-cd